Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

The New York Mets made a couple of key roster decisions on Saturday.

Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Tommy Hunter has been informed that he is going to make the Mets’ Opening Day roster. The righty had a contractural out that he could have exercised if he wasn’t added to the 40-man roster. However, the 36-year-old will now begin the 2023 season in the bigs.

The move will become official once the Mets select Hunter’s minor league contract prior to the matchup against the Miami Marlins on Opening Day. However, a decision had to be made on Saturday due to that clause in Hunter’s contract.

Hunter struggled with injuries throughout the 2022 season and threw a total of just 22 1/3 innings. However, he has looked strong during spring training and hasn’t allowed an earned run in eight innings of work. Hunter has also struck out nine of the 30 batters he has faced this spring. He was brought back on a minor league deal this winter and the low-risk move has seemingly paid off for both team and player.

The Mets bullpen has to do some shuffling with Edwin Díaz out for the year, so Hunter may find himself in a much larger role than originally expected. When healthy, Hunter has proved he can be a reliable arm with a career 3.14 ERA, 45.6% grounder rate 20.8% strikeout rate, and 5.4% walk rate over 424 1/3 innings since the start of the 2013 season. 

The Mets also announced on Saturday that they have signed Dylan Bundy to a minor league deal. The right-hander spent all of the 2022 season with the Minnesota Twins, pitching to an 8-8 record with a 4.89 ERA in 29 starts. Bundy gives the team another veteran who can step in and start at any given moment. The Mets depth in their rotation is already being tested with José Quintana out until at least July with a rib injury.

Interestingly another, Bundy is yet another pitcher with ties to Mets manager Buck Showalter. The two were together in Baltimore where Bundy pitched to a 4.67 ERA with 602 strikeouts in 127 games. The 30-year-old owns a career 4.74 ERA with a 54-65 record, 852 strikeouts and a 7.4 WAR.

You can never have enough pitching depth in baseball and, given that the Mets have had their depth tested already, Bundy is potentially a really smart pickup who could play a valuable role in 2023.